So he gives up
watching, and lies down where he will. So far as his natural enemies
are concerned, he is safe in this; for lynx and wolf and panther, seek
shelter with a falling barometer. They can neither see nor smell; and
they are all afraid. I have often noticed that among all animals and
birds, from the least to the greatest, there is always a truce when
the storms are out.
But the most curious thing I ever stumbled into was a caribou school.
That sounds queer; but it is more common in the wilderness than one
thinks. All gregarious animals have perfectly well defined social
regulations, which the young must learn and respect. To learn them,
they go to school in their own interesting way.
The caribou I am speaking of now are all woodland caribou--larger,
finer animals every way than the barren-ground caribou of the desolate
unwooded regions farther north. In summer they live singly, rearing
their young in deep forest seclusions. There each one does as he
pleases. So when you meet a caribou in summer, he is a different
creature, and has more unknown and curious ways than when he runs with
the herd in midwinter.
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